Homeland Security: nose under the wrong tent

Last week, radicalization was the contentious term that stirred the most political debate. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-NY, held a hearing investigating the radicalization of Muslims in the United States. Most Republicans supported the committee’s decision to question American Muslims about possible al-Qaida recruiting and terrorist cells existing in their mosques. Democrats argued the process was a witch hunt and smelled of McCarthyism, defined by Merriam-Webster as: “A mid-20th century political attitude characterized chiefly by opposition to elements held to be subversive and by the use of tactics involving personal attacks on individuals by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges.”

During the 1950s, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, held hearings to weed out members of the Communist party from American society. Instead of Muslims, McCarthy targeted entertainers, teachers, government employees and organized unions. After all, he was from Wisconsin.

He chaired the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Substituting fact with accusation, he used his power to seek out, identify and punish leftists for their liberal views. He created a “black list” consisting of Hollywood writers, producers, directors and personalities by falsely accusing them of being secret members of the Communist party. In his mind, if you were a liberal you were a communist. We didn’t learn much from his illegal tactics. Today, Republicans believe that if you’re a Muslim you have to be a terrorist.

Their is no way to know how many Muslims are in the United States. Census requirements do not include religious affiliations. But according to a 2009 Gallup poll, 26 percent of the total Muslim population are immigrants from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Arabs represent 26 percent and 24 percent come from the rest of the Muslim world. Native-born Americans account for the remaining 24 percent.

A contributing factor to the native-born statistic is the conversion of prison inmates to Islam, which brings us to the five major priorities in the Homeland Security mission statement: protecting our infrastructure and border security; dealing with threats of extremism; identifying groups vulnerable to exploitation by terrorist or criminals; and searching for weapons of mass destruction.

Our prisons are packed with gang members. If you’re not a member when you go in, you become vulnerable to gang exploitation before you get out. So, why aren’t King and Homeland Security investigating the radicalization of gang members in the inner-city and our prisons? They are the ones threatening neighborhoods, using our children and murdering innocent people in drive-by shootings. They are the ones selling the drugs and pimping on the streets. They are the ones smuggling illegal drugs across our southern border.

They are the real terrorists.

Rep. King justified his investigation of Muslims as possible radicalized terrorists because he believes the religion’s Sharia law calls for the conversion of infidels using the techniques of war.

According to http://www.religioustolerance.org, sharia literally means “the path to the water hole.” It is an Islamic law and a system for living a moral life. It is found in their holy book, the Koran, which they believe was dictated to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel.

There are four different schools of thought on the Sharia ranging from conservative to the most liberal school that is open to modern ideas. The Jews have their Torah, the Christians the Bible and the Muslims have the Koran. So, what is there to investigate?

The idea that Muslims want to convert America to their beliefs using terrorism and force is a false assumption. Spiritually, Islam teaches peace, tolerance and freedom of expression and it should not be compared to terrorism. Politically, Muslim extremists have declared a jihad, or holy war, against us for our support of Israel. They only kill those who they believe to be unjust and not worthy of peaceable conversion.

We shouldn’t treat Muslims like third-class citizens. Many of them have died serving our country, preserving everyone’s right to worship as they please without government oversight or intervention.

If King really wants to find terrorist cells, his nose is under the wrong tent. It’s obvious, you don’t have to look very far to find a radicalized terrorist, we are surrounded by them. They’re in our prisons, on our city streets and crossing our border with illegal drugs — you don’t have to search a mosque to find them.

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This entry was posted on March 17, 2011 at 5:18 am and is filed under Homeland Security, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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